Gaming on a Projector

Thread: Gaming on a Projector
FactsAreDead

FactsAreDead

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So, is any of you using a projector for gaming?

I'm about to get the Xgimi Halo+ , but I'm curious whether some of you might have better alternatives. Also, what's your general experiences with projectors? Feel free to talk about it, even if you're just using it for movies.
 
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:p
 
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FactsAreDead said:
So, is any of you using a projector for gaming?

I'm about to get the Xgimi Halo+ , but I'm curious whether some of you might have better alternatives. Also, what's your general experiences with projectors? Feel free to talk about it, even if you're just using it for movies.
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Go for it, that projector is amazing for the price and has 2 different game modes with low latency
 
FactsAreDead said:
So, is any of you using a projector for gaming?

I'm about to get the Xgimi Halo+ , but I'm curious whether some of you might have better alternatives. Also, what's your general experiences with projectors? Feel free to talk about it, even if you're just using it for movies.
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I don't have one but I played in a 4k Wanbo projector at a friend's house and he had this huge white wall. It looked amazing.
 
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FactsAreDead said:
Do you have it? First time I heard it has 2 different game modes. One is enough lol.
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Yeah i own one, it has a standard game mode and also a boost mode that reduces input lag even further but disables keystone

Playing on the PS4 using standard game mode i couldn't notice any lag on Elden Ring and the picture quality is fantastic even when projecting a massive image

The fan is really quiet too which is definitely important in a projector, if you get it from Amazon you can return it free within 30 days if you don't like it
 
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I tried it at someone's house. They had a huge dark room set up just for the projector. I don't think I'd want to bother with it, myself, unless it was a similar setup.
 
Haxan7 said:
I tried it at someone's house. They had a huge dark room set up just for the projector. I don't think I'd want to bother with it, myself, unless it was a similar setup.
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It's true it definitely works best in a dark room, but i just project it onto any plain wall and it still looks good. Also got a cheap foldable screen that i sometimes setup outside and as the xgimi has an internal battery can watch things easily in garden once sun goes down.

Before i got this i had always assumed projectors had to be wall mounted in a dark room with a special screen but half the fun with these portable units is messing about and watching stuff in random places!
 
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Haxan7 said:
I tried it at someone's house. They had a huge dark room set up just for the projector. I don't think I'd want to bother with it, myself, unless it was a similar setup.
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Honestly, people are worrying too much. I have a super cheap, crappy mini-portable projector here rn, 480p resolution, 50 lumen, and not only could I use it during the day (ofc black levels are shit then, but it's not like you NEED a 10000 lumen projector for thousands of bucks), but also, I played Smash Bros Ultimate and Xenoblade 3 on it and despite the shitty resolution, it still felt super nice having the whole wall as my screen <3

For the Xgimi Halo+, I plan to put it on a small table in front of my couch, buy two bluetooth stereo speakers later on, and that's it. How's your setup @Nada ?
 
FactsAreDead said:
Honestly, people are worrying too much. I have a super cheap, crappy mini-portable projector here rn, 480p resolution, 50 lumen, and not only could I use it during the day (ofc black levels are shit then, but it's not like you NEED a 10000 lumen projector for thousands of bucks), but also, I played Smash Bros Ultimate and Xenoblade 3 on it and despite the shitty resolution, it still felt super nice having the whole wall as my screen <3

For the Xgimi Halo+, I plan to put it on a small table in front of my couch, buy two bluetooth stereo speakers later on, and that's it. How's your setup @Nada ?
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The sound from the Xgimi is great from the harmon kardon speakers but i also either use headphones or a single bluetooth speaker so the sound comes from the 'screen' rather than projector

Mine i just stick on a table or chair or whatever is available. It has a little adjustable leg you can pull out to adjust the throw angle but i might pick up a cheap tripod when i see one in a second hand shop or charity shop find. Wifi for youtube or stick films / music on a usb stick and play it direct being android it seems to support everything i chuck at it

It's an addictive hobby though as I'm now looking into what improvements a 4k projector would make. And if you can get a reasonably priced 4k projector that could do 120hz i would be tempted to upgrade
 
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Just ordered the Xgimi Halo+. Saw that it was 100 Euro cheaper today and price probably won't get much lower this year, so no point in waiting. Will give it a nice try over the upcoming weekend, and if I hate it I'll just send it back. But ... I'm hyped :D Always liked the idea of a projector, but it used to be full of hassles. This one is simple to use, cheap-ish and I'm tired of normal tv-gaming. Will make a video of playing Xenoblade on a wall if everything works out lol.
 
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play Dance Dance Revolution on it, or another party-rhythm game. Your stores are allowed to sell those games in Germany, right? That's another great use of a projector.
 
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If I had the room I'd have my uncles 65" rear projection TV for playing N64. That thing was awesome for SNES/64/GC.
 
zebraStraw said:
If I had the room I'd have my uncles 65" rear projection TV for playing N64. That thing was awesome for SNES/64/GC.
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wtf, did that thing weigh as much as a car?

I remember our old family TV being like 35'' and it took a crew of dudes to bring it into the house.
 
Grinchy said:
wtf, did that thing weigh as much as a car?

I remember our old family TV being like 35'' and it took a crew of dudes to bring it into the house.
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Your 35" was a CRT. Back in the 90s they had projection TVs. It's like a crt, but with a projector on the in side and you could see the image through the screen.

The base of it was a bige speaker though, so it probably did weigh a bit.

4:3 65" is like 85" 16:9 so it felt huge.
 
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zebraStraw said:
Your 35" was a CRT. Back in the 90s they had projection TVs. It's like a crt, but with a projector on the in side and you could see the image through the screen.

The base of it was a bige speaker though, so it probably did weigh a bit.

4:3 65" is like 85" 16:9 so it felt huge.
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Yeah, now that i think about it, my friend's parents had a giant projection TV in the basement. It looked huge but the image quality wasn't that great.

They had it for so many years. I remember when he got a PS1 for his birthday and we played so much PS1 on that thing.
 
This thread has opened my eyes. I never really considered that the latency or the brightness were good enough for games. From what @DonDonDonPata said it might even be a preferable choice for older systems if you can find one with analog inputs.
 
Soodanim said:
This thread has opened my eyes. I never really considered that the latency or the brightness were good enough for games. From what @DonDonDonPata said it might even be a preferable choice for older systems if you can find one with analog inputs.
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I mean, I haven't experienced it yet myself, but from what I've gathered, the whole latency fear is only a thing for those crazy about 120+ Hz-displays. I'm fine with 60, so whatevs :>
 
FactsAreDead said:
I mean, I haven't experienced it yet myself, but from what I've gathered, the whole latency fear is only a thing for those crazy about 120+ Hz-displays. I'm fine with 60, so whatevs :>
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wrongo-the-grinch.gif


the responsiveness (input lag) tends to be better on CRTs because there's no image-processing. It has nothing to do with the framerate, it is the speed of the console/PC accepting your button-press and transmitting the action to your screen. This is also a fundamental flaw of various "HD upscalers" for retro consoles, because they add a not-zero amount of frames of lag to process the image
 
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DonDonDonPata said:
wrongo-the-grinch.gif


the responsiveness (input lag) tends to be better on CRTs because there's no image-processing. It has nothing to do with the framerate, it is the speed of the console/PC accepting your button-press and transmitting the action to your screen. This is also a fundamental flaw of various "HD upscalers" for retro consoles, because they add a not-zero amount of frames of lag to process the image
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And that's why the input when playing fighting games in old actual arcade machines is so satisfying. It feels completely different.
 
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lock2k said:
And that's why the input when playing fighting games in old actual arcade machines is so satisfying. It feels completely different.
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yup. I started using CRTs a lot when I got into shmups several years ago. The (lack of) lag makes a difference. Even a normal "living room TV" CRT from the late 90s / early 00s will perform better than the avg digital display. Emulation with run-ahead isn't the same, though it's close. I have a few 17" CRT monitors with VGA input. Pushing an Xbox 360 or Dreamcast 480p signal into a PC monitor is beautiful 😩 👌
 
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DonDonDonPata said:
yup. I started using CRTs a lot when I got into shmups several years ago. The (lack of) lag makes a difference. Even a normal "living room TV" CRT from the late 90s / early 00s will perform better than the avg digital display. Emulation with run-ahead isn't the same, though it's close. I have a few 17" CRT monitors with VGA input. Pushing an Xbox 360 or Dreamcast 480p signal into a PC monitor is beautiful 😩 👌
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Yeah, it's funny how that feeling of punching the shit out of someone in Street Fighter on an actual cab is unparalleled. The immediate feedback feels wonderful.
 
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When I was a youth leader at my church I talked the pastor into letting me bring in my xbox and hook it up to the church's expensive projector on the 200+" screen and sound system whenever we did the Superbowl slumber parties in the church gym. I'd split up the kids interested into teams and get them playing split-screen multiplayer against each-other. I also introduced tons of people to Lost Planet that way. A fantastic game to play on such a huge screen. It genuinely felt like a theater experience. And when we needed to be quieter we just put on our headphones.
 
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Got my projector yesterday and binged all kinds of stuff last night. Loving it <3

The image is large, filling my entire wall and has great colors. Blacks are washed out as should be expected, but not that much worse than my old tv. First movie I watched was Indiana Jones 1 and it was great, a true movie experience :D What's most surprising about the Xgimi Halo+: Its speakers are really good. At first I was like "okay, they're good enough until I get proper stereo speakers", but by the end of movie I couldn't tell that there's no stereo sound. Some genius sound design right there.

My biggest worry is a non-issue, too: Switching to "game mode" removes any input lag, feels just as immediate as with my tv. Don't even need that booster-mode. Played Genshin Impact and GTA5, looks really nice.

I'm sending my decive back tomorrow, though, because the fan noise is bigger than I expected. People online said "almost not noticeable" and stuff, but I'm sitting 1-1.5m from it and it's a clearly noticeable fan noise, louder than my desktop PC. It's a non-issue when I watch/play something, but I'm gonna try and order another one to see if I just got unlucky. Other than that: gaming on a projector is the best and it's definitely the way going forward for me ^^

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I use to game on a projector during the 360 era. Mine was completely silent, not sure how the move to 4k changed things. I put many, many hours on a single bulb and never had any problems.

I think now however with OLEDs been so affordable it would be hard to go back. Even a LG 77 C1 can be had for £2400. I'd personally get the biggest OLED you can and move your seating closer to get the same kind of experience.
 
So, it's almost Black Friday and I will buy a projector now, don't wanna wait any longer. Unless someone can recommend me something else, it's gonna be the Halo+ again. It's down to 649 Euro again now. Would have hoped for a lower price, but whatever.

Still, can anyone recommend a better projector for that price point or cheaper? I don't really need the built-in battery. But I want a quiet 1080p projector with latency good enough for regular gaming.

thx

PS: I got to try out the Capsule 3. It's actually significantly worse in terms of brightness and sharpnesss compared to the Halo+ so at least I can rule out that one. It's much smaller, though, so portability is the Capsule 3's strength.
 
Came today, tested it, packed it again for return :/

That fan noise is just too much, ugh. I'm done with the Halo+.

Can anyone here recommend a 1080p-projector, suited for gaming, at or below 700 bucks, that is really quiet if not silent? Thx :/

Ugh, I'm sad. I really want a projector.
 
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